1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a handover technique of set values of printer drivers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, some methods or inventions have been proposed in association with handling of print settings when the user switches printer drivers in an environment in which a plurality of printer drivers are installed in an information processing apparatus. When the user switches printer drivers on the information processing apparatus in which the plurality of printer drivers are installed, operations associated with print settings are different depending on operating systems (OSs). That is, for those operations multiple methods exist.
On certain OS's, printer drivers operate as independently. In this case, when the user switches a printer driver, print values of a printer driver set before switching are independent of those after switching. For this reason, when the user changes the print set values of the printer driver before switching, the altered print values are not reflected after the printer driver is switched. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-131832 has proposed a method of handing over print settings upon switching printer drivers premised on the OS which performs such operation. In this invention, upon switching printer drivers, it is determined if the printer drivers before and after switching are of an identical type. If it is determined that these printer drivers are of the identical type, the print set values of the printer driver before switching are handed over intact to those after switching.
On another OS different from the aforementioned OS, once a printer driver is selected, the OS itself holds crossover print settings for a plurality of switchable printer drivers until a print job is complete or canceled later. When the user switches printer drivers, the OS intervenes to hand over the print settings of the printer drivers before and after switching, thus sharing the same settings.
A problem to be solved by the present invention is premised on a print system in which an OS (to be also referred to as a given OS hereinafter) holds crossover print set values for printer drivers, as described in the related arts.
In a scene in which after the user makes print settings on a certain printer driver, an output target printer is not a desired one of the user, and he or she switches printer drivers, there is a merit of this system. That is, in case of a print system in which an OS does not hold any crossover print settings for printer drivers (print settings of respective printer drivers are independent from each other), the user has to perform operations in order to set the same print settings again on a printer driver after switching. By contrast, in this system, since the print settings made on a certain printer driver are handed over to a printer driver after switching, there is a merit in that the user need not perform operations in order to set the same print settings again.
However, in this system, as for common print setting items to printer drivers before and after switching, when their default set values are different, this mechanism poses a problem in some cases. For example, a case will be examined below wherein in association with two printer drivers A and B which allow both monochrome and color settings, a default set value is “monochrome” for driver A, and “color” for driver B. At this time, the user does not change the monochrome/color setting before switching a printer driver. Under this precondition, when the user switches the printer driver from A to B, since the default set value of printer driver B is “color”, it is expected that the monochrome/color setting is also switched to “color”. However, since the print settings of printer driver A are handed over, the monochrome/color setting after switching to printer driver B is still “monochrome”.
The user can name and save a combination of setting items and set values of print settings in advance, and such a combination is called a preset. When the user sets a preset, he or she can easily perform an output operation using print settings which are defined in advance. However, when the user switches printer drivers after he or she sets a preset, some settings of the preset are invalidated in some cases. For example, a case will be examined below wherein a monochrome/color setting in a certain preset is “color”, printer driver A allows to select both monochrome and color settings, and printer driver B is exclusive for a monochrome setting. In this case, when the user applies that preset to printer driver A first, the monochrome/color setting is “color”, which follows the user's intention. In this situation, a case will be examined below wherein the user switches the printer driver to B, and then returns it to A later. When the user switches the printer driver to B, the monochrome/color setting is forcibly set to be “monochrome”, and even when the user returns the printer driver to A later, that monochrome setting is unwantedly handed over. For this reason, although the preset is intended to color printing, if the user executes a print operation in that state, a monochrome image is output.
That is, when the user repetitively switches printer drivers without changing settings, unexpected print settings may be made.
As described above, when print settings are handed over between different printer drivers according to the specification of the given OS, a print operation may be made to have settings against the user's intention or the user has to carefully confirm and reset set values of respective setting items, thus causing a disadvantageous situation. As a result, usability and efficiency are impaired.